Englewood Urban Renewal Authority re-elects chair, adopts 2025 budget and transfers remnant parcels to city

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Englewood Urban Renewal Authority (URA) on Jan. 8 re-elected Chair Bernie Costello and selected Linda Bowen as vice chair, approved its 2025 operating budget and authorized the transfer of several small URA-owned parcels to the City of Englewood. Executive Director Brad Power also updated the board on ongoing negotiations over the City Center ground lease.

Power said the URA’s recommended operating budget for 2025 is “a little over $18,000,” funded primarily by investment and interest income tied to a loan on previously sold URA property. He told commissioners the URA’s fund balance is projected to be just under $2 million and comes largely from interest and proceeds from earlier land sales.

The budget matter was presented as Resolution No. 1 for 2025 and was adopted during the meeting after a brief discussion. Power described three primary expense categories: the annual audit (roughly $1,000), a nominal training allowance for commissioners (about $1,500), and an administrative fee to the city (a little over $15,000) to cover staff time and finance services related to the URA’s loan servicing.

The board also voted on a second measure, Resolution No. 2 for 2025, to transfer a set of remnant URA parcels to the City of Englewood for public purposes, including sidewalks, streets, open space and drainage. Power said two parcels along Englewood Parkway were surveyed and found to be occupied by the public sidewalk and part of the eastbound lanes; another parcel described in the meeting is a very narrow strip that lies within the Dry Creek Greenway. He said the URA has prepared a quitclaim deed and, if adopted, staff will take the deed to City Council for final acceptance prior to closing the transfers.

The URA also approved routine business: adoption of minutes from a prior meeting and the officer elections. A motion from a commissioner nominated Chair Bernie Costello to continue as chair, and Costello moved to retain Linda Bowen as vice chair; both motions passed without roll-call vote detail recorded in the URA minutes.

In a separate update, Power briefed commissioners on the long-running City Center site. He said the long-term ground lease (originally a 75-year lease) had been controlled by a party that went into bankruptcy; that special servicer has now sold the remaining lease interest to a Denver-based joint venture composed of Ogilvy Properties and DPC Companies. Power said the new lessee can either operate the center under the existing lease or pursue a long-term redevelopment that would require acquisition of the fee simple title so the project could be financed. He said the city would seek to negotiate a redevelopment agreement that protects municipal goals — such as affordable housing, open space and parking arrangements — before any transfer of fee simple title would occur.

Power characterized the change in lease control as progress because the special servicer could not make long-term investments; he said staff will meet with the new owners and then bring options and recommended council direction back to the City Council for policy decisions.

The meeting concluded after the URA adopted the two resolutions and received the City Center update. Staff said they would schedule any necessary council actions in the first quarter of 2025.